Yes, excellent article. Lucid and clear. I completely agree with the author that the hadith should not be discarded. And doing so with all hadith is like throwing the baby out with the bath water.
Three points…
1. Some Muslim scholars unfortunately go further than the author of this article and think that hadith is not just inspired but it is a form of revelation.
Some may say that this is the same thing…but it is an important difference…inspiration can be very context specific that is not easily generalizable, especially when all information of the context is missing…but revelation has a connotation that it is intended to be generalizable.
2. When some sahih hadith are teaching something that it is not specifically mentioned n the Qur’an, it has to be taken cautiously.
After all, over 90% of hadith are narrated by only one narrator and the Qur’an tells us in 2(282) in the context of financial dealings of two criteria…that two witnesses are needed as well as the transaction needs to be documented for it to be reliable.
Although that verse is dealing with financial transactions, establishing law affecting millions of people in the future is even more important than the sale of a particular horse.
3. It is unclear if the Prophet wanted the hadith to be taken at the high level that it is taken today. If he did, it is a little puzzling why he as head of the city-state of Madina did not take measures to have his statements preserved in a systematic way. Also, Abu Bakr and Umar also did not preserve hadith but according to Muslim historical sources took steps to prevent the preservation of hadith.
I am not saying that this undermines the validity of hadith. I follow hadith and I agree with the author of the article above who says, “Who better to tell you about the beliefs of the first Muslims than the Prophet who lead the movement?”
Having said that though, we still need to be cautious….it has been shown universally that religious doctrine and interpretation is fluid and can be shaped by many conscious and unconscious factors…by many social, economic, cultural, educational factors.
The great hadith scholars of the past were pioneers in being cautious but according to academic standards of today….standards that have been developed and tested by social scientists over last few centuries…the great hadith scholars’ standards were great for their age but still substantially below the academic standards of today and as mentioned above not in line with the Quranic standard of 2(282).
I may be wrong but my view of being extra cautious is what I feel to be most reasonable.
Blogging Theology 
Yes, excellent article. Lucid and clear. I completely agree with the author that the hadith should not be discarded. And doing so with all hadith is like throwing the baby out with the bath water.
Three points…
1. Some Muslim scholars unfortunately go further than the author of this article and think that hadith is not just inspired but it is a form of revelation.
Some may say that this is the same thing…but it is an important difference…inspiration can be very context specific that is not easily generalizable, especially when all information of the context is missing…but revelation has a connotation that it is intended to be generalizable.
2. When some sahih hadith are teaching something that it is not specifically mentioned n the Qur’an, it has to be taken cautiously.
After all, over 90% of hadith are narrated by only one narrator and the Qur’an tells us in 2(282) in the context of financial dealings of two criteria…that two witnesses are needed as well as the transaction needs to be documented for it to be reliable.
Although that verse is dealing with financial transactions, establishing law affecting millions of people in the future is even more important than the sale of a particular horse.
3. It is unclear if the Prophet wanted the hadith to be taken at the high level that it is taken today. If he did, it is a little puzzling why he as head of the city-state of Madina did not take measures to have his statements preserved in a systematic way. Also, Abu Bakr and Umar also did not preserve hadith but according to Muslim historical sources took steps to prevent the preservation of hadith.
I am not saying that this undermines the validity of hadith. I follow hadith and I agree with the author of the article above who says, “Who better to tell you about the beliefs of the first Muslims than the Prophet who lead the movement?”
Having said that though, we still need to be cautious….it has been shown universally that religious doctrine and interpretation is fluid and can be shaped by many conscious and unconscious factors…by many social, economic, cultural, educational factors.
The great hadith scholars of the past were pioneers in being cautious but according to academic standards of today….standards that have been developed and tested by social scientists over last few centuries…the great hadith scholars’ standards were great for their age but still substantially below the academic standards of today and as mentioned above not in line with the Quranic standard of 2(282).
I may be wrong but my view of being extra cautious is what I feel to be most reasonable.
Allah knows best.
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